Metropolitan Mama

Super ZOOper

April 14, 2010 By Stephanie 40 Comments

This morning Tim & I took the girls and met some friends at the zoo. We’ve never taken our girls to the local zoo. (I know!).

I carried our 1-year-old in the ERGO (best carrier ever…in case you’re wondering)…or on my shoulders.

She pointed and smiled at everything – she’s the most peaceable baby.

Our 3-year-old fed the giraffes. They have really long tongues and are a little bit slobbery.

She then proceeded to ask for the map and to “direct us” to which animals to see next.

On the way home, I asked her which animal was her favorite. “The anteater!” she said enthusiastically. “No…” she said, changing her mind, “The snake!“

My favorite? Probably the monkeys. But – not to get all animals-rights-activist on you – it kind of breaks my heart to see animals all caged up like that.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you enjoy going to the local zoo? Do you have a membership? Why or why not?

Filed Under: About Me, Travel With Kids Tagged With: animal rights activist, animals caged up, best carrier ever, ERGO, favorite animal at the zoo, feeding the giraffes, super zooper, we went to the zoo

Tuesday Tours: What’s Happening on the Web

April 13, 2010 By Stephanie 14 Comments

Welcome to “Tuesday Tours: What’s Happening on the Web” where I serve as your tour guide and showcase the best contests, freebies, deals, and reads for moms on the web…all in one convenient location.

Contests

If you are pregnant (or know someone who is), enter Cake Lingerie’s Mother’s Day Giveaway. Deadline: April 25.

Good Reads

From The New York Times: Father and Daughter Bond, Page by Page.

I agree with Sarah of Emerging Mummy – In which I don’t care if the tinies know about the Roman Road.

Katie Kimball of simpleorganic writes about NFP, explaining that Natural Parenting Can Start Before Conception. I wish I had read that post pre-kids.

From NPR: Measles Resurgence Tied to Parents’ Vaccine Fears. How do you feel about the MMR?

From BBC: Pregnancy exercise ‘slims babies’.

I am very similar to Michelle in that “I don’t get writer’s block,” but I appreciated her recent post nevertheless: How to Write When You Have Nothing to Write.

Miscellany

Party to go to? Consider these red heels.

I want to buy some crepe paper and replicate this cheerful picture (via oh happy day).

In case you’ve ever wondered How to Hard Boil an Egg – Jeanine of Rosie Girl Dreams tells all.

Have you seen PicClick, the Visual Etsy Shopping Experience? Fun for hours.

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*** If you have a contest or an announcement that you think might be a good fit for Tuesday Tours, e-mail me at stephanie@metropolitanmama.net.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cake lingerie's mother's day giveaway, how to hard boil an egg, how to write when you have nothing to write about, kate spade heels, natural parenting before conception, NFP, picclick, Tuesday Tours, what's happening on the web, writer's block

If I were a 1st time mom again

April 13, 2010 By Stephanie 21 Comments

I would register for these products…[click on each picture for product details].

Pregnancy

chip pepper mamacita If I were a 1st time mom again chip and pepper pamela bump If I were a 1st time mom again

Breastfeeding

Baby Care

Life

You may be scratching your head and wondering why I left out so many “essential” items. Cribs. Bottles. Pacifiers. Pumps. A matching changing table and bookcase. A swing. Baby toys. Travel systems. Etc. But I actually left those products out on-purpose. They might be worth considering for your family, but it turns out they weren’t so essential for our family, after all.

Also – I am certainly not presuming that all of the items pictured above are NECESSARY to have a baby. Babies actually need very little to grow + thrive – warm arms to hold them, sweet milk to feed them, and plenty of love. That said, registries are meant to be FUN, right? And these are the items I would choose.

YOUR TURN: What would you register for if you were registering all over again? Also: did any of the things on my list catch you by surprise?

* There are affiliate links in this post.

Filed Under: Babies Tagged With: baby necessities, baby registry, first time mom, if i were a 1st time mom, products necessary when having a baby, registering for baby products, what to register for

Creepy, Crazy & Quirky Baby Products {would you buy them?}

April 11, 2010 By Stephanie 43 Comments

Advice to 1st time moms-to-be: be weary of the baby industry.

Baby stores + expos will try to convince you to buy lots of STUFF – stuff that will collect dust and that you will sell on Craigslist later.

To help prove my point, I’ve been compiling a list of crazy baby products that I thought you might get a kick out of. If you’ve used or bought any of these products, please forgive my skepticism and please do enlighten me about their usefulness.

Let’s begin with pregnancy:

Pregnancy Piercings offers flexible pregnancy belly button rings for $15.99. I may be a little biased here because I’m not really a piercings kind of girl in general, BUT…it seems hard for me to believe that a mama would want to show off her expanding belly by touting a sparkling ring with a crop top (but maybe that’s just me). Not to mention the potential for infections. Or the fact that burgeoning bellies housing babies tend to be itchy and uncomfortable as is.

Then, there’s the Lullabelly Prenatal Music Belt ($55). Simply wrap the fabric around your waist, plug in your iPhone or MP3 player, and let your baby jive to tunes in the womb. I’m all for starting music appreciation early, but I think it’s probably sufficient to listen to music yourself or to…sing to your baby. After all, “Who needs lullabies when you have a Lullabelly?” [Note: Sarcasm]

Also: the makers of Lullabelly recommend that you start using it at the beginning of your 3rd trimester. Not a lot of bang for your buck.

If you just can’t wait for the big 20-week sonogram, you can opt to buy an early gender prediction test by IntelliGender (82-90% accuracy rate; $34.95) or pink or blue (95% accurate; $265-$330). You can find out your baby’s gender with a simple urine (IntelliGender) or blood (pink or blue) test at as early as 7 weeks post-conception.

I understand the appeal of this product, but – seriously – can our culture get any more impatient? Tomorrow people will be requesting that they’re babies arrive like 3 weeks early or something (oh, wait…that already happens).

Your baby finally makes his/her arrival and now of course you HAVE to have a Why Cry Baby Analyzer ($69.99) by ThinkGeek or at the very least a Cry Translator App ($9.99) for your iPhone by Biloop Technologic.

Yes, it’s true. The crying analyzer detects why your child is crying (i.e. Stressed, Sleepy, Annoyed, Bored or Hungry) via advanced frequency analysis technology. The makers of the iPhone app even boast that, “Clinical studies have shown the Cry Translator can decipher the broad meaning of a baby’s cry with 96 percent accuracy.” Uh-huh. I’d like to know how exactly they conducted those trials. Did they, by chance, interview the babies afterward?

Next up is LENA (the Language Environment Analysis System; $699). Here’s how it works: You dress your child in LENA Clothing, slide the LENA Digital Language Processor into the pocket, and press go. At the end of the day, you plug the DLP into your computer and view your reports. The system is designed to help you see exactly how much you (or your baby’s caregivers) are talking to your baby and what “level” of words are being used.

I’m a total word nerd so I have to admit that I am absolutely fascinated by this product. Not $699 fascinated though. Also, I’m a bit skeptical about sticking the device into special clothing. I betcha my baby would pull that device out lickety split…or spill her lunch all over it…or something.

As your kids get older, they’re guaranteed to get colds and coughs. Why not hook them up with a pair of Sniffle Buddies ($9.99)? They’re cloth wristbands that are designed for small children to – ahem, there’s no pleasant way to say this – wipe their boogers on. Hands-free!

Um. Eeew. I sort of don’t understand how these are particularly sanitary. After one swipe of snot, aren’t they pretty much out of commission…or are you supposed to let it dry and then use again? Maybe I don’t want to know the answer to that. Oh, and FYI – there are adult versions too in case you want to wear a pair on your next…date night?!?

Needless to say, I think we’ll stick with using tissues and washing our hands frequently. Speaking of which, have you seen this handsoap set by Foliage? Is there something just a mite creepy about that set? I mean baby hands are cute and all, but I wouldn’t exactly put that up in the guest bathroom – if you catch my drift.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Would you or did you use any of these products? Have you seen any other wacky baby products on the market?

Filed Under: Babies Tagged With: advice to moms-to-be, crazy baby products, creepy baby products, cry translator app, handsoap set, intelligender, lena, lullabelly prenatal music belt, pink or blue, pregnancy piercings, quirky baby products, sniffle buddies, why cry baby analyzer

There’s a good chance

April 10, 2010 By Stephanie 14 Comments

There’s a good chance that our girls will be excellent readers and writers. They will love books. They will savor words. They will understand the magic and beauty of linguistics.

There’s also a good chance that they will appreciate the outdoors. They’ll love to feel the sun beating down on their backs, to feel the breeze playing with their hair. They will hike and climb and run and bike – their muscles pumping, their lungs at work.

And they will be good with people. They will radiate warmth and compassion. They will be influential, visionary, courageous people who lead the way with their kindness and creativity.

In many regards, they are already all of these things. Pieces of me. Pieces of Tim.

But, lately, I’ve been thinking about how to help cultivate our areas of weakness. How can we teach a foreign language when we don’t have mastery of Chinese, French, or Portugese? How can we encourage musical interest when we are deficient in that area? How can we help them be BETTER and MORE than we are?

I guess it starts through EXPOSURE – giving them opportunities to see others’ strengths. And then, secondarily, by EXAMPLE.

So – I’m striving to find my non-interests, my non-talents…and then to incorporate them into my life. Even just a little.

Yesterday, I turned on the Classical Music station in the car. And we were jammin’ to Bach, with the sun shining through the windows. After a little while, however, my 3-year-old asked to listen to an audio book instead (I told you we love books ’round here).

WHAT ABOUT YOU? How do you cultivate interests/intelligences for your kids that are different than your own?

Filed Under: About Me, Homeschooling Tagged With: appreciating the outdoors, cultivate interests in kids, excellent readers, good with people, there's a good chance

Yes, My Kids Are My Friends

April 8, 2010 By Stephanie 29 Comments

“You are his parent; not his friend.“

“Kids need their parents to be parents…not friends.“

“She clearly needs a parent…not a mom/dad who tries to be her friend.“

I hear those statements pretty regularly in our society and, quite frankly, they bewilder me.

My kids are definitely my friends. We spend time together. We make each other laugh. We do crazy and spontaneous things that produce marvelous memories. We share good times and sad times. Sometimes we drive each other crazy, but – in reality – we never tire of each other.

Yes. Indeed. These two girls of mine are my friends. Aside from Tim, actually, you might even say that they are my best friends.

Does that mean that I am not a parent – that I fail to protect, guide, instruct, and teach my children? Not at all! I strive to do all of those things, using my age and experience to help them understand the world around them – to show them through modeling + conversation how to love God and love others.

But I refuse to live under the faulty presumption that I must EITHER be a parent or a friend to my children. I choose to be both. Now – and in the future.

After all, I won’t always be the only adult around here. One day, I will be 40 and they will be teenagers. I will be 50 and they will be having kids and careers. Etc. When those milestones come, I want to still be friends. Sharing cares and triumphs. Being taught by each other.

That kind of relationship doesn’t just “happen.” It starts today…right now…in the every day ways we relate to each other.